Budd Albright was born Forrest Edwards Albright in Elkhart, Indiana. On a bitterly cold night in a downtown Cleveland theater watching The Wild One with Marlon Brando, Budd knew what he wanted to do: get out of the cold and head to the sunshine of Southern California and give the movies a try.
A chance meeting with the daughter of a well-known Hollywood producer when Budd was working at a popular gas station in Pacific Palisades led the daughter to introduce Budd to her father. In November 1959, Budd found himself on the back lot at 20th Century Fox in a film titled Wake Me When It’s Over, in the role of a Miami waiter. At a meal break, he was joined by another newcomer: Red West, Elvis Presley’s bodyguard and right-hand man. Budd never looked back from there.
The actor and stuntman Jerry Summers introduced Budd to the stunt world. After thirty television and film projects—including The Rat Patrol; Tobruk; Drive Hard, Drive Fast; The Lonely Profession; Star Trek; and The Lively Ones as Vic Damone’s sidekick—the early sixties produced a flourish of war films that were perfect for young up-and-coming actors and stuntmen. He appeared in three episodes of the first season of Star Trek as an actor, and was killed off all three times. He left the acting/stunt business in 1974. Albright has worked as a photojournalist with producer Gary Berwin and has written thirty-two magazine articles. In 1994, he formed Strike Team Media, a television-promotional advertising service. Albright is currently working on getting his screenplays, Closest of Enemies (the Tony Cuesta story) and Hollywood Heat (a TV series with actor and record producer Steve Rowland) into production. A frequent skier and traveler, he resides in Palm Desert, California.
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